People sometimes ask me how they can help in our journey with PANDAS. Please read this and take a few minutes to write your representatives on behalf of children who desperately need medical care for these autoimmune conditions. Thank you!

Do you have a child or know a family who has been impacted by PANS: PANDAS-PITAND?

I encourage everyone to contact their state representatives in support of similar legislation! This will only take a few minutes of your time and will do so much to help a child whose life has been turned upside down.

See this link: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml to contact your representatives! It’s imperative to share with them the devastating impact this has on children and their families and the urgent need for additional research, as well as ICD listing and insurance coverage!

Please, be clear that high dosage IVIG *has* been shown to be helpful for these autoimmune conditions and should be covered by insurance for all PANDAS-PITAND (PANS) children. Each treatment costs $ 10,000 – $ 12,000 and many children (such as Faith) require ongoing infusions. Often, they are not covered by insurance.

Also, direct them to our website: PANDAS-PITAND Awareness & Research Supportfor additional information. Review the list of symptoms on our home page. Imagine your previously normal child suddenly becoming gripped by most, if not all of these symptoms at extreme levels of intensity. These children know there is something very wrong with their brains… they live with sudden onset

phobias,

obsessions,

contamination fears,

anxieties,

separation fears,

school refusal (yes, even children who loved school and were in gifted classes),

emotional lability, including rages (even in children who previously did not have temper tantrums)

ADHD

Major Depression

Relentless unwanted “bad thoughts” (this can range from thoughts of harming others to thoughts of suicide)

compulsions

memory loss

inability to trust your own brain and body that are suddenly turning on you in dramatic ways

The lives of your family change, literally overnight and are never the same… unless you can get this monstrous auto-immune disease into remission.

I co-admin a group of hundreds of PANS: PANDAS-PITAND parents, that grows daily. These families are in crisis, desperate to find help for their seriously ill child(ren). There are only a handful of physicians in this country who are currently experienced in treating these conditions. If you have any questions about these conditions, please message me through this blog or our website: PANDAS-PITAND Awareness & Research Support Contact page

Our children can’t wait. They need help NOW! Thank you for helping a child… please share this post.

I realize I’ve been remiss posting here in the last few months. It’s certainly not for lack of things happening! We’ve been very busy with many crises the last several months and I would like to share some perspective on where we’ve been, where we are and where we are going. If you’d like to enjoy some related music while reading this post, please click play to hear the song in the video below:

I had several bouts of illness & hypo-tension and had to withdraw from my Master’s program.

Over Christmas break in 2008, my then 9 year old daughter, Faith, told me she had a headache, sore throat and nausea. She had recently been treated for a strep throat infection. By the next day, my loving daughter changed dramatically into a child I did not recognize, literally overnight. The most obvious changes seemed behavioral (separation anxiety so severe that my child who had always loved school now refused to attend in extreme ways and closely followed me literally everywhere, contamination fears, extreme meltdowns & personality changes); but there were other changes, such as uncontrollable jerking of her head and limbs, sleep difficulties, throat clearing & blinking tics, academic decline, handwriting changes, hallucinations and at times, she was unable to speak.

We prayed over her, the elders of our church prayed over her, I asked for a brain scan, I stayed up countless nights researching, desperate to help her.

We are fortunate that our Pediatrician told us what he suspected only about a month into this trial: PANDAS: Pediatric Auto-immune Neuro-psychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcal Infections. It’s a condition in which, for some children, following a strep throat or other infection, their immune system has a cascade of events that lead to an auto-immune process in which the antibodies attack their brain, causing inflammation and a wide array of dramatic symptoms.

It was a 9 month fight to eradicate that strep infection that involved surgery. At God’s nudging, I founded an organization to raise awareness & support research. Faith’s brain started to heal… until she caught strep again a few months later.

During her most recent severe exacerbation, her symptoms intensified further as she fought strep for 15 months. Episodes were more extreme and lasted much longer. Afterward, she usually had no memory of the episodes…

I hope she never does.

Since last Thanksgiving, this is a condensed version of what’s happened (I’m sure I’m forgetting plenty of things, but these cover most of the highlights):

medical crises, especially for Faith,

continuing to blend our step-family, with the challenges that brings for each of us,

unexpected deaths of several extended family/friends from May – August,

water damage in our home… three times… in one summer,

Drying out from part of water damage

I’ve lost count of the contractors in our home and it’s not done yet,

One of the demolition areas

an attempted vacation wound up with hundreds of chigger bites covering me, my husband and Faith, one earthquake and a hurricane… so much for down time.

15 months of fighting a strep infection that causes an auto-immune cascade in which antibodies attack her brain,

Three inpatient hospitalizations for Faith for severe PANDAS exacerbation Christmas week last year & most recently for severe migraines in October & November, unresponsive to medications, as well as countless doctor and hospital visits in which she was not admitted,

loss of one income in our family as I stopped working as an RN to care for my daughter.

I have shared in the pain and tears of so many other parents also fighting to save their children.

~ 1st Thessalonians 5:16-18 says:

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Yes, it has been a very challenging year. Yet, I am thankful… I am so thankful!!

I’m thankful for:

God’s abundant grace and my salvation,

The knowledge that these trials are temporary,

I am blessed with an incredible man for my husband – in so many ways and on so many levels, I am so deeply thankful for you and proud to be your wife,

Thanksgiving Sunday

We are blessed with two amazingly wonderful, daughters who seek God – Hope & Faith, we are so very thankful for you both and the blessings you bring to our lives,

Hope & Faith – celebrating birthdays together

Family – I’m thankful for you! Although my mother continues to work, she has been especially helpful in supporting us with practical help in our home when she is able.

Friends – I’m thankful for you!

We are so thankful for our Pediatrician, as well as the Researchers and Doctors whose work helped to accurately diagnose and is helping to treat Faith’s strep infections and auto-immune disease,

Thousands of donors we will never know who donated plasma and/or blood that was made into IVIG (Intravenous Immune Globulin – approximately 10 thousand donors per infusion) for Faith’s infusions,

So many people who have prayed for Faith’s health, each of us individually and for our family,

stable employment,

our home,

God led me to design an awareness ribbon for PANDAS-PITAND, then led me to launch an organization: PPARS (PANDAS-PITAND Awareness & Research Support) to raise awareness & support the research our children so desperately need – click the link to visit PPARS website.

PANDAS & PITAND Awareness Ribbon

God also allowed me to present for PPARS at the IOCDF conference in San Diego in July, where I spoke with so many individuals and families who were either living with PANDAS-PITAND, had never heard of it and were seeking information and even adults who told stories about their sudden onset of OCDin childhood following a strep infection.

IOCDF conference 2011 exhibit for PPARS

I have also shared in the joys and triumphs of many other parents fighting for their children… and winning back their health!

Faith and I were chatting with another parent at the IOCDF conference 2011

I’ve met several of the top researchers and doctors who are working very hard to help children with PANDAS-PITAND and have been so fortunate to learn so much from them! Click each pic to learn more about them and the urgent work they are doing.

God kept my husband safe during the accident and quickly provided another car,

Hope is healthy, thriving and growing in Grad school, working hard in student teaching and research (she loves both!) as she seeks God’s plan for her and is on the brink of launching her professional career,

Faith has shown remarkable courage and determination to not only be healthy but she also seeks to thrive in the face of many challenges,

Although she’s had two recent hospitalizations and is catching up on missed school work, Faith is back in school this year, working hard and maintaining honor roll status in her college prep middle school program,

First day of 7th grade – after months on homebound education

God is healing Faith and instilling in her a strength and courage that is amazing… I’m excited to see where He will lead her,

Thanksgiving 2011

Hope was able to safely take two spiritually-related trips this year that have drawn her even closer to God in her Christian walk,

Hope studying Scripture in Israel

We live in a free country, in a beautiful area and while we may face challenges, we have what we “need”,

We were asked to share our story of Thanksgiving with our church family last Sunday… which perhaps turned out to be as much or more of a blessing for us as others,

In all the traveling we have done this year, we have all been safe,

We have each grown closer to God and to each other as a family, even in the midst of challenges… what a blessing & ultimately, this will matter so much more than the temporary challenges we have faced and are facing!

Thanksgiving 2011

For these and so many more blessings, we are thankful… that God remains always in control and we can claim victory in Christ and peace in Him! We have so much for which we are thankful and so blessed!

For so many families whose children have PANDAS-PITAND (PANS: Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome) such as ours, there remains an urgent need for research. Anyone wishing to make a tax-deductible donation to support PANDAS research, please go here for information: PANDAS-PITAND Awareness & Research Support

~ Jeremiah 29:11 says:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Wishing each of you Thanksgiving blessings and a very peaceful Christmas and 2012!